In June, tamariki from Te Kohanga Reo ki Puhinui visited the Papatoetoe Food Hub as part of its Matariki celebrations, taking a chance to learn about food sustainability and enjoy some yummy kai as well.

The Papatoetoe Food Hub put on a traditional hāngi for tamariki and their parents, as Aotearoa celebrates its first official Matariki holiday.

Helping to prepare the hāngi was friends from Te Aho Tu Roa, one of the organisers of the event. They say it was the perfect opportunity to understand other parts of the food system like composting and upcycling.

“The kaupapa for the tamariki this year is based around the topic of sustainability. So coming to the Papatoetoe Food Hub provided us a chance to show them, and their parents, how we could incorporate kaitiakitanga in and around Te Kohanga Reo ki Puhinui.”

Papatoetoe Food Hub director Raju Ramakrishna says the social enterprise is continuing to grow the education and learning focus at the Food Hub with events and programmes like Whenua to Whenua.

“When the Food Hub was originally conceptualised back in 2018, one of the primary goals was how could we help connect the communities here in South Auckland to their own kai and food systems, and through that their own practices and culture,” he says.

“So the Papatoetoe Food Hub is about supporting the revitalisation of indigenous kai systems in Tāmaki Makaurau and also using it as a learning tool for those who wish to regain some of that knowledge.”

To view a video, please visit the Papatoetoe Facebook page.